New &euro;5m scheme to deep retro-fit homes

A new multi-annual scheme offering financial support to upgrade homes to an ‘A’ rating on the Building Energy Rating (BER) scale will result in lower energy bills and increased comfort for homeowners, Minister of State John Halligan T.D. has said.

The allocation of €5m to the scheme for 2017 was announced this week by Communications, Climate Action and environment Minister Denis Naughten.

The scheme, which will meet up to half the cost of upgrades for individual householders, will fund major energy efficiency upgrades to homes and low carbon heating systems, Minister Halligan said:

“This scheme will enable people living in badly insulated houses to significantly upgrade their homes to an ‘A’ BER rating. Funds will be made available on a rolling basis to community groups, Local Authorities and Energy Agencies. The scheme is available to any group that can pull together groups of people who want to invest in a major energy efficiency improvement to their home. Under the scheme, an individual homeowner will be able to get up to half the cost of their energy efficiency upgrade supported by the SEAI.”

Minister Denis Naughten added: “To support Ireland’s transition from fossil fuels to renewable heating technologies, there will be no grants for fossil fuel based systems under this scheme.”

“Deep retrofit is a significant upgrade to bring a home as close as possible to Nearly Zero Energy Building standards. People live in a wide variety of homes across a broad swath of locations and they live in very different circumstances be they homeowners or renters.”

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